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OpenTrials
Completed

NCT Number: NCT05815537

Development of Functional Spatial Hearing in Reverberation

The goal of the clinical trial study (Phase 0) is to map out the developmental trajectory of functional spatial hearing abilities in reverberant environments for children with normal hearing between the ages of 6 and 18 years, and to understand the inter-relationships between the three perceptual abilities: auditory object size formation, spatial acuity, and spatial unmasking during typical development. Children are asked to perform psychoacoustic tasks when the auditory stimuli are processed to present in virtual acoustic environments (1) with no reverberation and (2) with one of the two levels of reverberation that emulate everyday indoor environments. The intervention of this clinical study is in the random assignment of one of the two reverberant environments. Researchers will compare these children with a group of normal-hearing adults to anchor matured performances.

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Key information

Conditions

Spatial Hearing Development

Age range

6 year–30 year

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Interventional

Phase

Early Phase 1

Primary location

Boys Town National Research Hospital

Omaha, Nebraska, 68131, United States

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: Yes

Only the study team can determine whether someone qualifies for participation.

Inclusion criteria

  • All individuals within age limits who are typically developing with normal hearing who pass 25 dB HL from 250 Hz to 8000 Hz.

Exclusion criteria

  • Individuals who fail hearing screen as described above.
  • Individuals who have a diagnosed intellectual developmental disability

Treatment and study plan

Low-Reverberation

Other

The exposure to low-reverberation is by presenting auditory stimuli to participants that are digitally processed to contain auditory cues that sound more or less reverberant, e.g., small classroom.

High-Reverberation

Other

The exposure to high-reverberation is by presenting auditory stimuli to participants that are digitally processed to contain auditory cues that sound more or less reverberant, e.g., large lecture hall/auditorium.

Primary outcomes

  1. Auditory Object Size (Apparent Source Width)

    Time frame: Year 1-3

    Psychoacoustic measure of the smallest detectable change in width of an auditory image in degree angular span in the horizontal plane

  2. Spatial Acuity (Minimum audible angle)

    Time frame: Year 1-3

    Psychoacoustic measure of the smallest detectable angular separation between two auditory objects

  3. Spatial Unmasking (Minimum angular separation)

    Time frame: Year 1-3

    Psychoacoustic measure of the smallest angular separation to gain a target speech benefit in the presence of distracting speech maskers

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

Father Flanagan's Boys' Home

Other

Registry information

Important dates

Study start
2024
Primary completion
2026
Study completion
2026
First posted
Apr 18, 2023
Registry last updated
Apr 28, 2026

OpenTrials presents study information sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov. The official registry record should be consulted for the latest information.

View the official ClinicalTrials.gov record (opens in a new tab)

This listing is for discovery and informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, does not guarantee that a study is recruiting, and does not determine eligibility. Contact the study team and a qualified healthcare professional when considering participation.